


When TJ Was

by staristired



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, One Shot, ive been told this is really sad, post breakup tarty, tarty as exes is the best headcanon, tyrus is canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 17:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17047094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staristired/pseuds/staristired
Summary: The story about how TJ and Marty came to be whatever they even were.





	When TJ Was

**Marty's POV**

When TJ Kippen was just another popular jock, he came up to me one time during history. He got a chair, put it in front of my desk, and sat down, staring at me like a cat watching a mouse run into a corner (only I was placed into that corner). I looked up and scanned around the class- it was barely starting to fill in. The kid that usually sat in front of me walked back out when his eyes landed on TJ. I gulped and turned back, catching TJ’s green gaze. He didn’t have a smile or anything; he wasn’t even frowning. He was just looking at me. I felt my cheeks getting redder by the second, and I closed my mouth when I realized it had fallen open the very second he appeared in front of me.

For the very first time in the history of the world, he talked to me and he asked, “Do you know Buffy Driscoll pretty well?” My heart shrank, and I was already cowering in his overpowering shadow, trying to hide from his gaze. His eyes get that sparkle like Buffy’s- that’s how I knew he just wanted something from me.

I made the mistake of saying, “I actually do.” More kids were sitting down, and TJ shifted his eyes from side to side, watching people around us take their seats.

“You should go to the bowling alley around seven tonight. Me and my basketball friends will be there,” TJ said, already getting up.

He slid the chair back to its original place as I meekly said, “Catch you there.” He was already gone, unable to catch my basketball pun.

When TJ Kippen was still callous, I went bowling with him and some of his friends. I recognized them from practice. A couple of them told me that I was their pick if Buffy hadn’t made it. I was waiting for TJ to compliment me, but he didn’t. He just sat there silently, watching the lights on the ceiling. One of them was flickering, the age of Shadyside’s bowling alley shining through. It was a weird place to hang out on a Thursday night, and my mom almost didn’t let me come. I guess my moping around from the entire Buffy “breakup” convinced her at the end. It’s not everyday TJ Kippen invites you to hang out with him and his friends (I also needed to distract myself from the entire Buffy thing (but that’s also a lie because I knew TJ just wanted me here to get dirt on her)).

I beat TJ and them at bowling, but I only cared about beating TJ. If he didn’t notice me without Buffy tied to me, he did now. All his friends gave me loud congratulations, and I felt that if I had made the basketball team, we would’ve worked well together. TJ simply passed me by and tapped my chest, saying a quick, “Good game.”

We sat down to eat the pizza we ordered, and I was right next to TJ on the booth. His elbow bumped into my arm a couple of times, but he never apologized. He was eerily similar to Buffy, the pile of napkins wasted on building up by the minute.

“So, you know Buffy pretty well?” he asked me. I couldn’t what he was thinking. The other boys were in the middle of their own conversations, so it was like if I was blown into a bubble with just TJ.

“I thought I did,” I told him.

“You dated?"

“No,” I quickly shook my head, “it’s complicated.”

I swear on everything TJ rolled his eyes and muttered, “Heteros.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” TJ said simply, taking a bite out of his pizza. I sat there silently, hearing him chew, the chatter and laughter of the other boys growing louder. “Do happen to know any of her weaknesses?”

“Her ego,” I said without thinking. I immediately regretted it, though, and I admit that was the shittiest thing I could’ve done.

“She’s okay, I guess.”

“She’s incredible,” I told him.

He never asked me about Buffy again. I guess he knew I didn’t have anything useful. His ego was his weakness, too.

When TJ was still a complete bitch, I assumed I would never talk to him or the rest of the team ever again. He didn’t say hi to me when I passed him in the halls or when I saw him in class. He didn’t even follow me back on Instagram (I liked to think he just hadn’t logged on because his profile was set to public). I went back to my usual friend group- back to moping about Buffy and admiring TJ from afar.

Then one day he stopped me after school in the hall. He had the other boys around him. They followed him like little dogs. I know TJ knows how much power he has in this middle school, and I never liked that about him. I was easily just another dog to him.

“We’re going to the movies tonight,” he said so casually, making me swallow my spit in nervousness. He knew he was making me nervous, and he leveled out his back, making him look taller. I had to stop myself from taking a step back. “Want to come?”

“Sure,” I barely manage to choke out without cracking my voice. “I’ll meet you guys there.” Without saying anything else, TJ simply nodded and walked away, the rest of the guys giving me fist bumps as they walked past me.

That’s the day I started hanging out with them, almost as if I was apart of the team. One of the boys put me in their group chat, and I’d go everywhere with them. My mom didn’t really like them. It was something in her gut, I think. It’s like she knew that they would manage to hurt me.

Well, TJ would.

He always made me nervous, had me sitting at the edge of my seat. He was scary even when he wasn’t trying to be.

But sometimes, in rare moments, TJ would lay back on a tree while we’d toss rocks in the lake we always went to. He’d close his eyes, and he had a small smile on his face. TJ Kippen was a photosynthesizing plant- harmless.

One time I sat down near him in a patch of grass while everyone else jumped in the lake at 2AM. I told them that I didn’t want to get sick, so I stayed out. TJ was shivering under a towel after quickly getting out. He didn’t like the water as much as the other boys who were playing volleyball in there.  I stared at him, wondering if he was cold and if he was going to get sick. It was like he could hear my heartbeat race when I heard myself think that he was really handsome.

He opened his eyes and they bored through me. It was dark outside, so I knew he couldn’t possibly see that I was blushing. It didn’t mean I wasn’t embarrassed.

_Do I like boys, too?_

“You cold?” he asked me. My teeth were chattering, so I couldn’t tell him no. I simply nodded my head a little. He reached over for his backpack and took out an extra hoodie. He tossed it to me, and I put on over my thin long sleeve.

“Thank you,” I told him, shoving my hands into the hoodie’s pocket. He let out a low grunt which was the closest I’d get to a thank you. “Do you ever smile?”

“I do,” he rolled his eyes. “There’s no reason to, though.”

“You’ve ever caught a mouse?”

TJ was confused, “What?”

“Have you ever caught a mouse?” I asked again.

“What are you saying, Marty?”

“I’m asking you if you’ve ever caught a mouse,” I grinned.

“I have not. My cat has, though. Like, five times.”

“What’s your cat’s name?”

“Macaroni.”

“Were you proud of him?”

“I hate him,” he said, wrapping the towel closer to his bare chest. I rolled my eyes. He was impossible.

We stayed silent for a good five minutes, splashing and distant laughter the only thing filling the lake area. My curfew was three hours ago, and I knew I was going to get in trouble. But I wanted to stay. I wanted to look at TJ a little longer that night, basking in the scent of his hoodie.

“Aren’t you cold?” I turned to ask him.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I have another hoodie so don’t worry about me.”

“How do you know I’m worry about you?” I smirked.

Then he smiled, “The way you look at me.”

I slept in his hoodie for an entire week until it stopped smelling like him. I washed it and put it on his desk before class started. He didn’t tell me thank you or anything; he didn’t even look at me. He just shoved it in his duffel bag and went on with his day, not knowing he was the main thought in my head all day.

When TJ Kippen was a handsome jerk, he sent me a selfie on Instagram (he finally followed me back) of him wearing the gray hoodie I basically lived in for a week.

The selfie was caption: **It still smells like you.** He was outside in the selfie, possibly on the roof of his house. It was golden hour, and his eyes were stunning, making me hold my breath for a little longer than intended. I bit my tongue, trying not to screenshot.

 _Is he flirting?_ I asked myself.

 **What do I smell like?** I asked him, in a selfie where I covered my face with a peace sign.

**Roses.**

I stuck a rose to his locker the next day. He didn’t ask me about it, but I know he knew it was from me. I know he smiled when he saw it.

When TJ Kippen was still an asshole, he let me reach for his fingers while we sat in the back corner of the movie theatre- just us two (everyone else was busy, and we both really wanted to see this horror movie). I went straight for this ring he always wore, and I picked at the engravings with the edge of my cut fingernail. He slipped his ring off his finger and slid it on mine, held my hand for a little longer, and then put it back down. I kept his ring on for the rest of the movie, feeling the engravings I couldn’t read with my thumb and index finger.

When we got out, we started walking home. He lived two streets down from me and Shadyside wasn’t exactly dangerous. “I’m tired,” he mentioned. It was kind of funny for some reason. TJ Kippen? Tired? He was like a sea sponge, just existing and affecting organisms around him. I forgot he could feel at all.

“Hi, tired. I’m Marty,” I laughed, getting a playful shove from him.

“How funny,” he let out a mock laugh. I reached over quickly and swiped his hat off his head and slid on top of mine, quickly running down the street. “Marty!” he groaned, chasing after me. I was no basketball star like him, but I was still a track star. I slowed down a little after a minute, letting him catch up. I felt bad for him- almost. I really liked beating him.

Then he jumped on my back, my legs almost buckling down below me as he wrapped an arm around my neck. I quickly hooked my arms around his legs and took a few steps forward, trying to get my balance and planting my feet on the floor.

“A warning would’ve been beautiful,” I joked, standing up straight and continuing our trail.

“I’m surprised you can take my weight,” he teased me, wrapping his other arm around me. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he had a stupid smirk on his face.

“You’re not exactly full of muscle,” I told him.

“You are?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I thought runners didn’t have muscle.”

“I still work out,” I reminded him.

“I guess.”

We walked quietly. I pretended that I was going to drop him about twice, pissing him off. I liked doing it because he’d let out a hissed _Marty_ that made him sound like a little kid. It was cute.

“What time do you have to be home?” TJ asked me as we got closer to his place.

“Like in two hours, why?” I asked him.

“Do you want to hang out at my house for a bit?” he asked. He sounded so casual, but TJ Kippen always had a plan. He knew he had me at his disposal, and he probably had that sparkle in his eye at that moment.

“Sure.”

When TJ was still a fuck boy, I let him kiss me. Not once, not twice, but countless times. The first kiss was in his bedroom (he had the rose I gave him taped to the door) a week after the movie theatre “date.” We were under a blanket fort in his room, watching a movie on his laptop. I had my head on his lap, and he was running his fingers through my hair. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, though. He was confusing and hard to decipher. He was still cold at school, and he carried distant look in his eyes most of the time. But for some crazy reason, I wanted to make him the happiest boy alive.

Then the  blanket fort fell on us, making TJ bust out laughing. It was the most incredible sound to me, making my head dizzy as if I were living in a day dream. We both sat up, struggling through the thick sheets to find the surface. He looked at me and he smiled, probably laughing at how messed up my hair was from the combination of his fingers and the friction of the blankets.

“Yes, TJ?” I smiled, running my fingers through my hair, trying to get it out of my forehead. “Am I too cute right now?”

Then my heart stopped for a second as he said, “Maybe.”

Without thinking, I asked, “What do you plan to do about it?”

“This,” he said before leaning forward and pulling me by the shoulders towards his face, pressing his lips on mine. I kissed him back, and I knew that that was one of the things I wanted from TJ Kippen. It was one of the few things I’d ever get from him.

When TJ was everything, and I was nothing, I knew what was coming. I knew he was going to shatter my heart, but I still let him tear me apart, starting with the skin of my bottom lip.

We didn’t talk about each other’s days, but we sometimes had light banter where we’d make fun of straight people. Sometimes he complained about things that worried him, and I’d reassure him, but he never looked like he cared that I was there. We never had personal conversations, but we held hands. He let me borrow his rings (he had a lot of them) and his hoodies, and I felt special in those moments when he’d nod in approval before showering me in kisses. I sometimes made him laugh hard, but I mostly ran my fingers through his hair, messing up his hair gel. He started wearing less of it on the days I was planning on going over, and I thought that meant I was special to him.

I don’t think I was anything to him, really.

I was just Marty, his friend that he sometimes made out with and giggled with in between tangled legs and blankets, in between boring movie scenes. Although “just friends” don’t look at each other the way we looked at each other.

I was still the mouse, under the supervision of the cat’s green eyes, vulnerable and dying.

When TJ was just a cold-hearted boy, he tossed me to the side. He cut me off, taking back his rings and sweaters one day and never letting me borrow them again (I’m pretty sure he fed Macaroni the rose that was withering on his door). He stopped inviting me over to his house on the excuse that he had to study for math. I never knew he had dyscalculia until Buffy told me months later. I wanted him to open up to me and to let me come to him with my issues, but I guess that’s not what he wanted me for- if he ever wanted me at all, that is.

I cornered him one time after school. He was alone; a cat without his gang. I was still the mouse, and he stood taller over me. My voice squeaked as I resisted the temptation to tiptoe and kiss him when I asked him why he stopped talking to me.

“I had to stop it before it got worse,” he said, staring down at his sneakers. “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he apologized, walking away with my heart in between his teeth.

I didn’t even know it was bad.

Now TJ is with Cyrus, and I hear that he’s kind, thoughtful, and sweet. He’s everything I wanted him to be (he’s just not with me).

**Author's Note:**

> Tarty is a god tier crack ship, and I love it. I uploaded this to Tumblr a while ago, so I decided to put it up here.   
> Yes, I'm the same person who has a 50k word Tyrus fanfic. I've switched teams.  
> Lmao JK but TJ and Marty as exes is really such a great headcanon, and Tyrus is still canon at the end, AND we get bi Marty? FuckeNG GREAT ! SIGN me UP! TWICE the GAY!  
> I'll probably do more tarty stuff later, and I think everyone else should also write Tarty.


End file.
